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Bushcraft Blog

The Bad Eggs of Bushcraft

2nd July 2010

Some time ago, you may remember that I wrote a short article on the negative side of bushcraft? I thought it was going to be a somewhat controversial statement, but all e-mails and comments I received actually agreed with my thoughts and observations.

I’ve had very little time to actually venture out and teach this year, it’s been a busy time of work and some personal projects that I’m still working on (news on these another time).

As a result I’ve been spending a lot of time online, and I’ve been noticing more and more supposedly reputable bushcraft instructors and schools breaking a golden rule of bushcraft and conservation, which goes strongly against what they supposedly preach.

As a lover of nature and the environment I teach people about the subjects I love because I truly do care about them, and feel it’s important to educate those who want to learn, about our natural world and how we all need to respect and preserve it. However, over the past few months I have noticed more and more schools begin to sell natural products (online) which they have blatantly robbed from nature for monetary reasons.

I won’t be naming anyone here, nor will I state the exact natural products, but the golden rules of preserving nature, and only ever taking what we need is clearly being abused by some.

Even on a seemingly small scale, depleting natural stocks of some wild fungi and plants can equate to an almost industrial-sized disaster for small, and local environments.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying I’m green in every way, I’m sitting here writing this on a computer which is made of plastic, metal and producing a small amount of radiation, but you will certainly not catch me removing large amounts of natural products from our already fragmented and tiny proportion of countryside that we have left in this country.

As a forager, I do of course dip into nature’s bounty, but the key is moderation and preservation. I respect that nature relies on these resources and I never put this at risk by doing what I do. I also always try my best to plant the seeds of wild fruits and nuts, helping nature as I go.

Hopefully some of these offenders may read this, and think twice before they go off filling their bags with important components of nature, for the sole purpose of financial gain!

I don’t usually use this website to vent my frustrations, but on the odd occasion I feel it’s important to do so, especially under circumstances such as these.